Hey everyone! Following up from the last message, here’s the picture of a delicious meal at Hummus Bros. I love this place so much!

I swear the time has switched into ultra fast gear over the past two weeks. Every Wednesday, the only class I have is a Historic London class and instead of meeting at the campus, we meet at different sites around London and walk around for our lecture. Last Wednesday, we went to Borough High Street/Borough Market. If you ever come to London and you want to go to a really cool market- go there! Even though it wasn’t fully opened (it wasn’t a Friday, Saturday, or Sunday) it was still really cool to see the set up and the variety of fresh food they offer.

Last weekend, I left Friday night for Paris! Again, we took the National Express (via Eurolines) coach there and back. This was my first time taking the coach across the ocean, so it was interesting! The first thing we encountered was when we had to stop at border patrol. The police came on the coach and took our passports and then we had to get out and to take all of our stuff inside a building for the customs officers to check our stuff. Once we were back on the coach, we had to drive to wait in line for the train to come. Apparently, we were taking a train through the tunnel (I didn’t know if we were taking a ferry or what). It was kind of weird because the coach drives into a train car that’s attached to the front of the train. After we’re positioned in the car, a metal wall closes the coach in so that it has its own car and then locks it in place. 

It gets so stuffy inside the coach because it has to be shut off while the train is in motion. I almost freaked out at first because I could feel the train moving but I couldn’t see anything (I tend to get motion sickness); I didn’t like that part but I sucked it up and tried to fall asleep. The rest of the ride wasn’t bad at all. We got to the airport (where the coach was set to drop us off) and we found out we had to pay 9 Euros to get to the hostel. I didn’t like that part but oh well! After we dropped our bags off at the hostel, we walked to a nearby church. I just stood at the top of the steps looking over Paris and I couldn’t help but think “how did my life get like this?!” It really is insane; I can’t believe where I’m at and all that I’m doing here!

Our first day was a pretty dreary and rainy day in Paris. Most of the people I traveled to Paris with are very interested in museums, and well, I’d much rather walk around and see the city. Since I was with someone else who would rather walk around outside then in the Louvre, we did just that! We walked to the Louvre with everyone, and then split off to walk to The Eiffel Tower. We took side streets and what not so it took us probably 2 hours to get there but I loved just walking around and seeing little shops. There were so many bakeries!! 
Unfortunately, I wasn’t impressed the first time I saw The Eiffel Tower. I think it’s because it was a really rainy grey day, but I kind of thought it was ugly. Right as we got there, it started pouring so we hid under a porch of a ticket booth. We tried to find a metro but walked around for 2 hours in the rain because no one would tell us how to get there (in English). I have always heard that the French could be not so friendly to Americans, but I didn’t know it was that bad! Literally, no one would talk to us in English even after we attempted to speak in French. 

The second day we were there, it was cloudy but it luckily didn’t rain. It was Sunday, so the places that were open didn’t open until around 11am so I got to sleep in. That was nice because I didn’t want to be too run down for the day. We all went souvenir shopping and walked around the more expensive stretch of shops leading to the Arc de Triomphe. 

When we were done wandering around, we went back to the Eiffel Tower. It was a little nicer when we went back that time, but I still am not a huge fan. My favorite part of the day was when I got a French Baguette — it was SO SO good! Our ride home was great (for me) because I literally slept the entire time; with the exception of border control. Tomorrow, I leave bright and early for Brussels, Belgium!

I’ve learned that when you travel, you can’t go into something with expectations. I expected so much of Paris – the glamour, high end fashion designers everywhere, and an overall clean city (Paris smells like “homeless pee”) – and I got none of them. It was definitely great to see Paris, but it’s just not the place for me! Hopefully Brussels will be a better trip.

Location: Paris, France